Reported Speech and Passive Voice

Reported Speech

Use:

Use reported speech to talk about what another person said in the past.

Eve:        ‘I went to the party on Friday night’.

James:     ‘Eve said that she had gone to the party on Friday night’.

Form:

1) When reporting speech, the verb in the sentence may shift to a past tense.

am / is / are	changes to	was / were
“I am fine.”		She said that she was fine.
present simple	changes to	past simple
“I like it.”		He said he liked it.
present continuous	changes to	past continuous
“She’s sleeping.”		He said that she was sleeping.
will	changes to	would
“I’ll be there.”		You said that you’d be there.
can	changes to	could
“I can come to the meeting.”		You said that you could come to the meeting.
past simple	changes to	past perfect
“I did the shopping.”		Tom said that he had done the shopping.
present perfect	changes to	past perfect
“I’ve read that book.”		I told him that I’d read the book.
past continuous	changes to	past perfect continuous
“She was walking home alone.”		He said that she had been walking home alone.
present perfect continuous	changes to	past perfect continuous
“I’ve been working,”		I told him that I’d been working.

2) To report speech, use He / She / I said (that) ...

    You can also use He / She told me (that)...; I told him / her (that)...

3) Don’t use quotation marks (“) when reporting speech.

4) References to times in the past also may need to change when using reported speech, if that time is no longer the same.

this morning / week / month	→	that morning / week / month
yesterday	→	the previous day
last week / month	→	the previous week / month
ago	→	earlier / previously
tomorrow	→	the following day
next week / month	→	the following week / month

     

Passive Voice

Exercises on Passive

Use of Passive

Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.

Example: My bike was stolen.

In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however, who did it. Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows:

Example: A mistake was made.

In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. You have made a mistake.).

Form of Passive

Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)

Example: A letter was written.

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:

• the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
• the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
• the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Examples of Passive Level: lower intermediate

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Simple Present	Active:	Rita	writes	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	is written	by Rita.
Simple Past	Active:	Rita	wrote	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	was written	by Rita.
Present Perfect	Active:	Rita	has written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	has been written	by Rita.
Future I	Active:	Rita	will write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	will be written	by Rita.
Hilfsverben	Active:	Rita	can write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	can be written	by Rita.

   

Examples of Passive Level: upper intermediate

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Present Progressive					Active:	Rita	is writing	a letter.
	Passive:				A letter	is being written	by Rita.
Past Progressive	Active:	Rita			was writing	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	was being written		by Rita.
Past Perfect	Active:	Rita	had written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	had been written	by Rita.
Future II	Active:	Rita	will have written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	will have been written	by Rita.
Conditional I	Active:	Rita	would write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	would be written	by Rita.
Conditional II	Active:	Rita	would have written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	would have been written	by Rita.

   

Passive Sentences with Two Objects

Level: intermediate

Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.

	Subject	Verb	Object 1	Object 2
Active:   Passive:   Passive:	Rita   A letter     I	wrote   was written     was written	a letter     to me   a letter	to me   by Rita.     by Rita.

As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. That’s why it is usually dropped.

Personal and Impersonal Passive

Personal Passive simply means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. So every verb that needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive.

Example: They build houses. – Houses are built.

Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there is no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence). If you want to use an intransitive verb in passive voice, you need an impersonal construction – therefore this passive is called Impersonal Passive.

Example: he says – it is said

Impersonal Passive is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. German, Latin). In English, Impersonal Passive is only possible with verbs of perception (e. g. say, think, know).

Example: They say that women live longer than men. – It is said that women live longer than men.

Although Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal Passive is more common.

Example: They say that women live longer than men. – Women are said to live longer than men.

The subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the sentence; the verb of perception is put into passive voice. The rest of the sentence is added using an infinitive construction with 'to' (certain auxiliary verbs and that are dropped).

Sometimes the term Personal Passive is used in English lessons if the indirect object of an active sentence is to become the subject of the passive sentence.